Category: Poetic Responses: Art

Dalí’s Greatest Secret (2013) Paul Perry wrote and directed this documentary that focuses on Salvador Dalí’s commission to paint the first vision of Fatima, The Vision of Hell. Conceived by John Hartford of the Blue Army as publicity celebrating the Vatican’s proposed 1961 disclosure of the secret third vision, the painting, over which Dalí … More Dalí’s Greatest Secret (2013)

The Bird People in China (中国の鳥人) (1998) In this dark comedy, a yakuza is sent into the Chinese boondocks to keep track of a junior executive whose bank wants to ascertain if there’s jade to mine. Takashi Miike directs this anthropocentric fable that becomes a quest for an obscure tribe of Chinese people who have … More The Bird People in China

Willie Whopper (1933—1934) Ub Iwerks’ animation series stars a fat adolescent — with red hair when colorized – who relishes telling outlandish lies about his derrings-do. Responsible for the creation of Willie was animator Grim Natwick, and once Willie was fat enough, playing jazz on the piano with his dog at his side, I recognized … More Willie Whopper (1933—1934)

Blog with a View After Terry Wright’s Fractal Blog Page 1. By the image in the word Meaning casts its shadow By the word in the image Colors strain to stain. 2. Flow sweeps away on Mercury wings With magnification The hidden emerges 3. Gaudy or polite Or impish wisdom Sharing the void Ought … More Fractal Delight

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) Carmen Maura gives a defining performance in Pedro Almodóvar’s Spanish screwball comedy. Inspired by Jean Cocteau’s La Voix Humaine, the film reveals a ‘new woman’ of the Post-Franco generation, someone who, like Pepa, caught in a whirlwind of passionate breakup, takes control of her life, and, … More Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

Stalker (1979) Out of a catastrophic and troubled production, involving re-shoots due to loss of footage, Andrei Tarkovsky , under the pretext of making a science fiction film, documented the deteriorating state of the Soviet Union. In this quest film, the Writer and the Scientist hire the Stalker to take them into the Zone … More Stalker (1979)

The Horse’s Mouth (1958) Alec Guiness adapted Joyce Cary’s novel into a screenplay so that he could play the irascible artist Gulley Johnson, who cannot pass up a wall without painting on it images of the disenfranchised working class. John Bratby, one of the ‘Kitchen Sink’ school of artists, did all the paintings … More The Horse’s Mouth (1958)

Zeitgeist Welcome to the becoming. Pale green Afros burnish trees. There is so much water beneath The sand, it could be another island. Sometimes seeing the world upside down Helps the sun go where it belongs. Blood flows to the volcano at the center Of the earth, a hive … More Zeitgeist

Frida (2002) “In the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution, the country’s artists forged a new painterly vocabulary, which fused European modernism with local folkloric traditions, and became a global phenomenon.” After years of problems getting this screenplay produced, Julie Taymor was hired to direct this biopic based on a biography of Frida Kahlo. Selma Hayek … More Frida (2002)

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) Luis Buñuel collaborates with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière to define ‘haute bourgeoisie‘ as the inability to finish a meal without being interrupted. Minor characters recount dreams and memories; the bourgeoisie deal cocaine, commit adultery, and invite terrorism; what’s real all depends on who is dreaming whom. Propriety and its … More The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)